Lot 156
156
A RARE RUSSIAN FLINTLOCK HOLSTER PISTOL BY J.J.GRECKE, ST.PETERSBURG
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A RARE RUSSIAN FLINTLOCK HOLSTER PISTOL BY J.J.GRECKE, ST.PETERSBURG

DATED 1777

Details
A RARE RUSSIAN FLINTLOCK HOLSTER PISTOL BY J.J.GRECKE, ST.PETERSBURG
Dated 1777
With two-stage barrel signed in large gold letters and similarly dated 'Anno 1777' between bands of gold foliage and scrolls inlaid at either end of the breech (originally blued), turned girdle, gold fore-sight set within a frame of scrolling gold inlay, gold-lined vent, the barrel tang incorporating a low back-sight and decorated en suite with the barrel, blued bevelled lock profusely inlaid with gold flowers and scrolls enclosing the gold inscription 'StPetersburg', sliding safety-catch and gold-lined pan, figured walnut half-stock finely carved with rococo scrolls and flowers in low relief ahead of the trigger-guard and about the barrel tang, full gilt-brass mounts finely cast in low-relief and involving small panels of rococo ornament on a punched fish-roe ground, including flattened spurred pommel, solid side-plate and faceted ramrod-pipes, blued trigger-plate, horn fore-end cap, and original horn-tipped ramrod (worm missing).
15in (38.1cm)
Literature
Alaric and Etienne, Un pistolet à silex Russe de qualité, G.d.A. No.295, January 1999.
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

Johann Joachim Grecke of Stockholm was court pistolmaker to Adolf Fredrik, King of Sweden. In 1767 Grecke moved to StPetersburg together with his son Johan Adolf, the latter becoming court gunmaker to the Empress Catherine II and working in a style very similar to that of his father. An example of his work, a blunderbuss, is in the Wallace Collection (A.1124).

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